Poverty and addiction: Cruel bosom buddies
Does poverty lead to addiction or does addiction lead to poverty?
ADDICTION and poverty are often cruelly interlinked, says Paula Risi, a social worker at Wedge Gardens Treatment Centre.
“Put these words together in a sentence and you will get an idea of the interplay between these two states of being.
“For example, addiction creates poverty; the poverty of addiction; poverty leads to addiction; and does addiction target those who are poor?” explains Risi.
The Rand Aid Association-run substance abuse treatment centre in Whitney Gardens believes in holistic rehabilitation that heals body, mind and spirit and as such. Therapists often grapple with a range of complex issues surrounding addiction to ensure that each patient’s case is evaluated against their specific background.
In looking at how poverty and addiction are inter-related, Risi asks, “Does poverty lead to addiction or does addiction lead to poverty? More importantly, does addiction lead to a poverty of spirit and moral values?
“As we know, addiction is found across all sectors of society. However, research suggests that there is a strong association between poverty, social exclusion and problematic drug and alcohol use. This would indicate that those who are unemployed, especially those experiencing long-term unemployment, who live in poor or insecure housing and are early school leavers, are more vulnerable to use drugs than those who do not fit into these categories,” says Risi in explaining that poverty can lead to addiction.
A second train of thought is that addiction creates poverty. “In this age of technology and consumerism, people have become used to immediate gratification. The management of pain and coping with adversity is done through numbing and avoidance. For unscrupulous drug dealers, many vulnerable unemployed youth are thus an easy target and an opportunity to feather their own nests by getting people hooked.”
She says that once hooked, a person’s quality of life declines. “The person may be rich or poor; either way, addiction creates a serious negative downward spiral. The person will sacrifice anything – family, friends, school or work – for drugs.
Continual use of resources leads not only to personal decline but the decline of their family’s wealth and resources. With this goes the compromise of morals and values. The person is left bereft of their dignity and unsure of who they are any more. So yes, addiction creates financial poverty but also a poverty of spirit.
Unscrupulous dealers exploit both addiction and poverty.
Nyaope and wunga are street drugs that have been widely used in South Africa since 2010, initially in the impoverished townships of Durban and then spreading to other parts of South Africa.
“Cheap and highly addictive, they are ripping townships and suburbs apart, leaving in their wake a trail of destruction,” says Risi.
“Reports indicate that a nyaope addict needs several doses a day and users are typically too poor to afford the drug out of their legal income. Addicts therefore turn to crime to get the money for their supply.
“The people getting others hooked have no moral conscience about the destruction that they are causing. It is equally their breakdown in values and moral fibre that sees them behaving without conscience.”
Risi believes that residents of impoverished townships and financially vulnerable youth in poor communities are targeted because the spiral of addiction and crime causes a further breakdown and fragmentation in communities, which makes these areas ripe for drug dealers.
“The end result is that the poor are kept in a cycle of poverty.”
However, the issue is even more complex. Risi says that addiction hits the rich and the poor equally but from different angles. “In both the rich and the poor, resources are abused, either leading to more poverty or an erosion of resources. In both cases, there is a breakdown of personal integrity which leads to internal poverty.
“A further thought is that addiction finds itself in a bigger picture of societal dislocation brought about by a mindset that glorifies money, power, individualism and competition. These are the drivers of the drug cartels and the local drug lords.
“Addressing the issue therefore may not only lie in treating the individual on an individual basis but in addressing this societal mindset, which in itself is a much taller order to tackle.”
Wedge Gardens can be reached at 011-430-0320.
